First National Badminton League has to be great news

Having seen the success of the Premier Squash League in bringing world class squash and squash players to clubs around the UK, the announcement of a new National Badminton League (NBL) sent a buzz around our office yesterday. 

The new league will include six franchise teams and players will be bid for auction-style. The format will include a variation on professional badminton matches with the aim of producing exciting, attacking play which should be great for spectators. Matches will be the best of five with a new style tiebreak. Match nights will include men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles with teams playing both home and away fixtures.

With four of the six teams being based in the Midlands (and more echoes of the Premier Squash League), we're looking forward to some brilliant badminton in this area. 

Birmingham Lions (University of Birmingham)

Team Derby (University of Derby) 

Surrey Smashers (University of Surrey)

UoN Nottingham (University of Nottingham)

Milton Keynes

Loughborough Sport

Matches start on 6 October 2014 with live coverage on Sky Sports.

Last night we saw a full house at Duffield Squash Club as squash fans young and old watched two world champions in action in the Premier Squash league semi-final. Yet more fans from the East Midlands will no doubt travel to watch a second successive final against Surrey on 6 May. If the atmosphere we've seen at squash's joyous equivalent to the NBL over the past 21 years is anything to judge by, the new National Badminton League - with guaranteed airtime on TV thrown in too - can surely only be great news for badminton fans in the UK.